


Pennyworth's Fairy Tales

by Annapods, bessyboo, duckgirlie, litrapod (litra), Opalsong, reena_jenkins, robinfyre (rewire), sisi_rambles



Category: DCU
Genre: (one version), Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Audio Format: M4B, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming, Disabled Character, Disney Princesses - Freeform, Experimental Podfic, Family, Family Feels, Gen, Gender Neutral Witches, Multiple Voices, Mutiple Audio Versions, Podfic, Sound Effects, Storytelling, Unedited Audio We Die Like Mne, Unexplained Magic, mute character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-08-29
Packaged: 2020-06-29 18:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19836358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annapods/pseuds/Annapods, https://archiveofourown.org/users/bessyboo/pseuds/bessyboo, https://archiveofourown.org/users/duckgirlie/pseuds/duckgirlie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/pseuds/litrapod, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Opalsong/pseuds/Opalsong, https://archiveofourown.org/users/reena_jenkins/pseuds/reena_jenkins, https://archiveofourown.org/users/rewire/pseuds/robinfyre, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisi_rambles/pseuds/sisi_rambles
Summary: Once upon a time, in a city covered in the lightest of smog and overshadowed with intricate gothic architecture, there lived a boy.  This boy was the shining beacon of the city; heir to the Wayne fortune and heir to the Wayne’s Good Works.  He was beautiful, with hair as dark as night, skin as pale as snow, and lips like rubies.  More than anything, his soul was beautiful; he was a Good Person.  His name was Bruce.





	1. Podfics

**Author's Note:**

> This was a project rooted in memory. The podficcers were given a text; out of order, in 5 parts, over 5 weeks; and asked to read it one time and then later (without looking at the text again) record what they remembered. Each podfic is different and yet has similar threads.
> 
> To that end: the text in chapter 2 is close, but not exactly the one the podficcers were given. It is mostly the same, but has been edited and formatted and rearranged. The podficcers were deliberately given pieces that were out of order and roughly executed.
> 
> Cover art is by Opalsong.
> 
> Transcripts of some podfics are provided in chapter 3.
> 
> To stream these podfics, please click the mp3 link!
> 
> Thanks to Paraka for hosting some of the podfics!
> 
> Thanks to Paraka for compiling the audiobook!

Podbook | Duration | Download  
---|---|---  
Collected Works Podbook | 2:24:10 |  [MP4](http://opalsong.parakaproductions.com/podfic/Audiobooks/DCU/01%20Pensieve%20Project2019.m4b) (68.4 MB)  
Title | Podficcer | Duration | Download/Streaming  
---|---|---|---  
Fairy Tale AU  
| Annapods | 35:24 |  [MP3](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IH3EMfVIeWiMuKyYDuP4Vqt9LN9AQEWY/view) (16.2 MB)  
Pennyworth's Fairy Tales | litrapod | 38:38 |  [MP3](http://kalindalittle.com/podfics/Podfic_pensive_2019.mp3) (53.0 MB)  
fairytales | robinfyre | 3:01 |  [MP3](http://opalsong.parakaproductions.com/podfic/Penceive%20Podfic/fairytales.mp3) (2.9 MB)  
son of the city, son of the sea | duckgirlie | 8:41 |  [MP3](http://opalsong.parakaproductions.com/podfic/Penceive%20Podfic/son%20of%20the%20city,%20son%20of%20the%20sea.mp3) (6.7 MB)  
A long time ago in a far far away land | sisi_rambles | 7:37 |  [MP3](http://sisi-rambles.parakaproductions.com/DC/A%20long%20time%20ago%20in%20a%20far%20far%20away%20land.mp3) (5.3 MB)  
Wanna hear a story? | bessyboo | 9:40 |  [MP3](http://bessyboo.parakaproductions.com/My%20Podfic/Collabs/Pennyworth's%20Fairytales%20-%20Wanna%20Hear%20A%20Story.mp3) (4.9 MB)  
Pennyworth's Fairy Tales | reena_jenkins | 41:08 |  [MP3](http://reena.parakaproductions.com/podfics/\(DCU\)%20_Pennyworth's%20Fairy%20Tales_.mp3) (47.1 MB)


	2. Text

**Forward**

I am just an old man who loves his children, the one I raised first and all those he adopted after. The tales in this book may not be accurate, but they are fairy tales; if I have changed things it is out of love for those involved.

**The Flying Mermaid**

Once upon a time, there lived a loving family of mermaids (a generic term for all genders of aquatic humanoids). The Greyson family were performers and artists. Their son Dick was the best of them; but Dick dreamed of flying through the air like some of the human acrobats on the beach near their territory. He dreamed and yearned for legs and air-breathing lungs. He wanted to feel gravity take hold and to fall and flip the way he could only shallowly mimic in the water. His parents said he would miss floating through the water, that he would curse gravity when he fell. He didn’t care. He yearned.

Then there was a storm and a shipwreck and Dick was made an orphan. He no longer had parents to tell him to stay safe in the water. The storm swept him near the forbidden eel infested territory of the great sea witch. He began to swim away; his parents may no longer be around to scold him but he knew that they had considered the witch dangerous and he didn’t want to be turned into an anemone. But before he could go far a beautiful figure appeared before him.

The witch herded him into her abode and offered him everything he ever wanted, a chance to stand on land. All in exchange for his voice, which was no great thing for Dick (who didn’t have a particularly good singing voice anyway).

The contract had an extra condition though, he had to find someone to adopt him before the end of three days. If he could not do that, the witch would take him back under the sea and keep him as her own apprentice forever.

Dick, being young and cocky and always beloved by his parents, thought this was no condition at all. Of course he would find someone to be his new family. He signed the contract with a flourish and the magic took hold, thrusting him towards the surface even as he choked on the water that had previously sustained him.

Three days later, Dick was on the edge of despair. He had not eaten since he surfaced and had been sleeping on the beach. He was hungry and tired and voiceless and no humans would even acknowledge him. The underwater world that loved its golden child did not extend above the waves. Here everything was dry and heavy and loud. With the sun high in the sky and time running out swiftly, Dick wept.

But then a man, barely out of boyhood himself, stopped on the beach and asked why he was weeping. Dick, of course, could not answer and just wept harder at this loss. But the man, with hair as black as coal and skin as white as snow, was clever. He took a stick from the sand and began to draw; digging through the sand to show a friendly smiling face. Dick watched hungrily and looked around for his own stick.

Through drawings and charades, they communicated. The man, named Bruce, grew to know of his problem. But there was no one he knew who would adopt an unknown boy (a former mermaid at that) on such short notice. But the boy in question looked up at him with such large limpid blue eyes that he could not send him back into the ocean.

There was no one Dick wanted to adopt him more.

All was well for what felt like a long time. Dick learned sign and didn’t need his voice. He was once again the golden ray of sunshine, best loved by his parent. And Bruce taught him to fly. He flipped and soared over the rooftops and through the gothic architecture of Gotham City. It was everything he ever wanted. It was worth his voice for sure.

But all was not well forever. The sea witch still had Dick’s voice; and while he did not wish for it back, that still was a connection between them.

Dick began looking towards the sea more and more often. He began drifting in that direction whenever he wasn’t thinking. He found himself at the edge of a pier more than once, ready to jump and dive into the sea.

Then one day, half asleep, he woke to find himself plunging into freezing water, diving into the depths of the ocean. He could faintly hear Bruce yelling above him but couldn’t fight the pull any longer; it had him in its grip and wasn’t letting up. He struggled out of his clothing as his legs fused into a tail and coughed and sputtered as his gills opened up and his lungs atrophied again.

He swam for what simultaneously felt like forever and also not nearly long enough to reach the Sea Witch’s lair. Dick looked around as he met with her; they weren’t in her lair. Her red hair, which had before been decorated with seaweed, now had bits of plastic and metal tangled in it. Her body, which was normally draped in kelp and coral, was covered in a slick black shimmery substance, giving her a much more evil appearance.

She wrapped bonds of seaweed and plastic around him and rose further towards the surface, singing an unearthly song with his voice.

They surfaced and she demanded the seas be cleared; threatening his life if humanity did not head her word.

Some say there was a great battle between humanity and the forces of the Sea. Others are adamant that there were days of intense negotiation. Others still told all they could that the Witches of the earth came together and cleared the land and sea of toxins and that they would ask a great price in return someday when humanity could least afford it.

Dick couldn’t tell you what happened; he was too busy gasping for breath and unable to concentrate on anything that was not the waves lapping against him or the sound of his own voice, harshly commanding. But Bruce rescued him. Bruce took him from the Sea Witch (regardless of whether her demands were met or she was defeated) and cradled him in loving arms.

Before she disappeared back into the deep, the Sea Witch offered him back his voice if he returned with her. Dick shook his head and signed that he wanted to stay. He smiled at her and thanked her, hands moving emphatically, for giving him a second family and the ability to fly.

His smile was the sunrise and melted the witch’s heart. She transformed him once again and severed the connection between them. He would never go back to the sea, but he was able to fly among the buttresses with his new family.

**The Bat and the Frog**

Once upon a time there was a girl, does this sound familiar yet? This girl was born into a loving family and grew up as many girls do, with few cares in the world. Her father was a police commissioner and so she felt safety even more intimately. She also saw people trying to do Good in the world (for as a young girl, with a father who was a good and fair police officer, truly trying to make the world a better place, she did not see the seedy underside of authority until much later in life). 

She respected and idolized all who did good works, but none more so than Bruce Wayne, beautiful and Good, and his adopted son Dick, sunshine and flight.

Her father, knowing the danger posed to those who did good works, barred her from following in any of their footsteps.

But Barbra, like many girls barred from doing what they feel is good and right, ignored her father’s commands and went out to do Good Works on her own. 

And Barbra, like many girls with good home lives and good parents, did not truly know the dangers of the world.

So Barbara did Good Works and got to know Bruce Wayne, a man of beauty and Goodness, and his son Dick, a boy the embodiment of sunshine and flight, and joined them in their Good Works.

Everything in Barbara’s life was perfect.

But of course not everything can remain perfect when out doing Good Works. Barbara made many evil people angry and her work with the Waynes brought her to the attention of a particularly jealous and evil witch.

He wanted Bruce’s Goodness for himself and if he could not have it, he would ruin it for everyone else.

He thought up a spell to ruin the life of the girl who was part of Bruce’s new life. He crafted it in secret, cackling and giggling all the while.

The plan came to fruition one day as Barbara was out doing Good Works: she rescued a frog from an evil witch and he told her that he was actually a prince.

Barbara, as many girls are, was charmed by the idea that a prince would just fall into her lap, that she had rescued him.

He asked for a kiss, the only way to free him from the spell. And Barbara, being a modern girl, thought nothing of giving a frog a peck on the tiny slimy head.

And as she did, the true horror came to be. The frog grew, and grew and grew and grew. Grew into the terrible, horrible witch that hated the Waynes with such a passion. And Barbara shrank, making the witch seem even bigger. She shrank until she was a frog instead of the witch.

The witch left her there, in the middle of the city, a frog.

There were times, after becoming a frog, that Barbara thought her life was over. She could no longer live as a normal person, getting around was hard and everyone pitied her. And she could no longer do Good Works as she used to.

The spell was irreversible. No one could break it, not even the witch himself.

Barbara was full of despair.

But Barbara shook herself out of her slump after a while and reminded herself that her life was not over. While she wasn’t able to do everything the same as before, she could still do lots of things. And while she wasn’t able to go out on the streets doing Good Works she would come up with a way to help as she was.

And find a new way indeed she did. She asked Bruce’s permission and he gave it. She built a tower just behind Bruce’s castle; from the top she could see everything and the interior was perfectly sized and built for a frog.

She made information her business and quickly became the hub for all of the Waynes and others who did Good Works in Gotham City.

**Sleeping Hood**

Once upon a time, there was a street rat that was destined for great things. At the time of his birth, a fairy that his parents had annoyed foretold that on his thirteenth birthday he would die in a fiery explosion with a smile. His parents, not being the loving sort, dismissed the curse. The street rat grew up without this knowledge. He became a very good thief, especially of car tires. One day he saw the fanciest, most ostentatious car imaginable. It belonged to someone very, very dangerous. This street rat, unlike his peers, was ready to risk it. 

It turned out better than he could have imagined in his wildest dreams. He was caught by the very dangerous man, with skin as white as snow and hair as dark as night; but instead of beating the street rat or turning him over to the police, the man took Jason in.

For a time, Jason’s life was like a fairy tale. He lived in a castle with a sunshine-made-flesh older brother and a father that was the epitome of Goodness and beauty. He learned to fly with his brother and do Good Works with his father and had time to figure out what he loved.

But all fairy tales have a villain and this one was a jealous and evil witch that coveted Jason’s father. He strove to succeed where he had previously failed. He kidnapped Jason through trickery and magic. The witch wanted to hurt Bruce, so he set the boy up to die in a fiery explosion, giving Bruce not quite enough time to rescue him.

But there was magic afoot, a fairy that Jason had saved, early in his days doing Good Works, blessed him to survive. He did survive, but only just; he slept for years and years. The witch made sure no one knew, that his family thought him dead and gone.

No true love’s kiss was used to wake the fairy-blessed boy; only dark and evil magic.

The boy woke, unaware he had been sleeping, to a world that had moved on. The coven were flush with success at waking him. They welcomed him into their number; trying to break him of his goodness. They twisted his feelings with manipulation and magic, turning him against the family that had once been his light.

Jason attacked his former family, unable to fight his way out of the twisted thoughts and pervasive magics used control him. He attempted to kill his Good father and his sunshine older brother. But even more, he attacked again and again his new younger brother, a boy who joined the family while he slept. He could never finish any of them off, something breaking inside him whenever he got close.

His younger brother, keen of mind and steady of heart, figured out what went wrong and his older brother, sunshine and flight, kept him in place. And his father, Goodness and beauty, wrapped him in a hug of pure love and acceptance and forgiveness. This broke the fairy curse and allowed Jason to wake fully.

Gasping to wakefulness, he shook off the dregs of the evil magic and fought against the coven, driving them from Gotham City and protecting his family.

**The Red Tower**

Once upon a time there lived a boy in a tower. How he came to be in the tower isn’t very important. Did one of his parents sell him for lettuce? Is he secretly the son of a prince? Did a witch kidnap him because of his magic hair? Who knows! (well, except the last one. Tim’s hair is not magical to the best of his knowledge) The point isn’t how he came to be in a tall tower in the middle of Gotham City with no way in or out except by one window. The point is that he is there.

Thing is, Tim likes being in the tower. He has a lot of work to do, detective work (not stalking, he would never, no really, never, not even a little) and business work, and being in the tower means that no one interrupts him. No one makes him cut down on caffeine or take breaks to do things like, say, sleep.

The witch that put him in the tower (again, the reason doesn’t matter, but she is the one enabling him) comes by to visit sometimes. She calls herself his grandmother and hey, that might even be true. Point is, she brings food and coffee and new, interesting projects for him to work on.

(And yeah, for a while she magically reinforced his hair so she could climb it. But really, what? Tim built a pulley system and put rope in it as soon as that occurred to him. He was thinking to upgrade soon, the witch didn’t like the thought of a permanent exit plan (whatever) and Tim thought it was inelegant. He was thinking a Drone in the future.)

The thing about the tower was that Tim liked being there. He had no desire to go out into the world. And it wasn’t like he was suffering; he had the internet and he did, in fact, have a drone already (just not one that was safe enough for humans to ride) so he could order whatever he wanted or needed from the internet and get it delivered to the box at the base of the tower. That included groceries. 

So really, the only reason Tim was still in the tower was because he wanted to be.

But then something caught his eye; below his tower, walking the streets, doing Good Works, was a man with hair as black as night and skin as white as snow and lips as red as rubies. He was beautiful and Good in ways that Tim had never seen.

Tim, for the first time, felt like he wanted to maybe, kinda, just a little bit, leave the tower. 

He actually leaned out the window to see the man with his own eyes.

Watching the man, Bruce he learned his name was, and his children became something of an obsession of Tim’s. Any time he was not actively working on projects the witch gave him he was watching them do Good Works.

Tim surprised himself when he realized he wanted that. He wanted to be a part of that. It would eat into his productivity time, but they did that anyway.

He tracked the family to one of the giant castles at the edge of Gotham City.

Tim didn’t hesitate; his mind was made up, he had done all the research, why would he hesitate now.

He got his passenger drone ready and lowered himself to the ground.

And promptly stumbled (ground wasn’t flat, that would take some getting used to). But someone caught him, the son with the smile of sunshine.

He made a crack about not being used to legs while Bruce’s other son, the one that had darkness lingering around his edges, glared.

They took him back to the castle and he finally met the man with the raven hair. And life was good. He did Good with his projects and his detective work.

Tim still retreated to his tower sometimes. There were times that people were overwhelming or that Dick was too noisy and he needed silence because he had a deadline.

So it took a while for the witch to realize that he had moved into the Wayne Castle.

When she did, she was furious.

He pointed out that she had never kept him there, that he had just never wanted to leave. And she destroyed every single thing in the tower that would help him leave or gave him a connection to the outside world.

Before Bruce and Dick and Jason and all the others, Tim wouldn’t have even noticed anything except the lack of the internet.

Now he felt confined and claustrophobic in ways the tower had never felt before.

But Bruce found him easily. (He didn’t respond to a query about dinner.) And together they tricked the witch into cursing herself and releasing him.

Bruce built a tower into Wayne Castle just for him, a twin of Barbara’s.

It was good to have a home.

**The Bat and the Magic Lamp**

Once upon a time there lived a girl. The girl’s parents were the worst sort of people and raised her with no voice at all. She grew up in a life of violence and silence.

But under all of the violence and training, the girl was a Good Person. Her parents could never remove that part of her and she learned to hide it from them.

She became the embodiment of stealth and shadows; completing missions and jobs on the orders of her parents.

But she always wanted more.

One day the silent girl was sent, not on an assassination mission, but a retrieval. She was to take a special oil lamp from a magical cave.

The girl, Cassandra, was not scared of this magical cave. She had been trained to deal with all things.

Upon entering the cave, all she could see was gold and sparkling gems. Unlike other thieves though, Cassandra was not tempted by the wealth. Wealth would not change her situation. She snuck by mountains of gold and piles of gems; skirted around rich tapestries and expertly carved statues.

Finally she found the lamp, on a pedestal in an out of the way side room. She approached tentatively, for she had been warned to touch nothing except the lamp. She braced herself to run as she lifted the lamp from its perch-

But nothing happened.

Cassandra tiptoed her way out of the cave without incident.

Cassandra had heard of this lamp; it was said to grant your deepest desires. Cassandra wanted that. More even, Cassandra needed that magic. There was no other way she would escape her parents.

So she disobeyed orders (like the time she let the children live, despite them witnessing); she rubbed the lamp.

A larger than life, very blue, woman appeared. She launched into what was obviously a well-rehearsed speech about rules and regulations about wishing. Cassandra politely sat through it and at the end lightly touched the Genie’s arm and tried to communicate her desires.

After some time of comical mistakes, hijinks, and misunderstandings (but no squandered wished) the Genie asked if she would like language to be her first wish. Cass had never felt the need for language before this mess but she understood now why other people wanted it and that she would not be able to thrive outside of her parents’ influence without it so she nodded vigorously.

And just like that, she could speak. Not well, and she did not like how imprecise it was, but she could do it. And the first thing she did with it was ask the Genie to free her from her parents.

Once the Genie knew what she wanted, she showed Cass several places and situations that could keep her safe from her parents. Cass watched them and waited, because none felt right.

Then, a frog in front of massive computer screens, along with a man with hair as black as her parents’ souls and lips as red as the blood they spilled, flashed into view and she gestured. Because that frog had stopped her parents more than once.

The Genie dropped Cass in the middle of the frog’s computer room and she, the frog that is, did a fair amount of screaming and yelling and jumping around before Cass managed to calm her down and explain, in shaky speech, that she was escaping her parents. And that those parents were plotting against the man, beautiful and Good.

The frog, all-seeing, believed her.

Together they stopped the parental plot and proved her Goodness to Bruce and his family. 

And the family accepted her, innate Goodness shining brightly for the first time.

(She did not forget about the Genie’s wish either, to be free. Cass had only ever needed the one wish really, language was a means to that end. She wished the Genie’s freedom and gained a friend forever in return.)

**Cinderrobin**

Once upon a time there lived a girl named Stephanie. Stephanie was Good and selfless and wanted nothing more than to make the world a better place. For a time, Steph lived in relative peace; her mother loved her and her father was fairly loving but often absent. But then, as often happens in fairy tales, something went wrong.

As in so many fairy tales, the girl’s mother died. Her father was unable to cope with being alone and raising a child and thus he quickly remarried. The new mother in the girl’s life was a co-worker of her father’s. This was how the girl found out that while neither was a witch, both her father and her new mother were not very nice people. (For you see, not all evil people are witches and not all witches are evil, contrary to popular belief.) Her new mother had two children of her own who were also not very nice people. And none of them treated Stephanie very nicely.

So Stephanie grew up with memories of a good, loving mother and a sense of right and wrong, and a new family that treated her very poorly.

And then, as so often happens in fairy tales, there was a ball.

The ball was at the Wayne Castle, a mysterious magical place. Bruce Wayne was throwing a ball to celebrate the birthday of one of his many adopted children.

Stephanie wanted to go. Badly. The Waynes were said to be Good People and she wanted more Good People in her life. But her (not so new, at this point) mother and sisters also wanted to go. They wanted to seduce the Waynes and gain themselves the life of luxury that Steph’s father had failed to provide. Steph’s father wanted to carry out a plot against Bruce Wayne and was thus in favour of his step-daughters attending. Steph knew she had to go and stop this. 

None of Stephanie’s relations were wealthy or well-connected enough to get tickets on their own so they each applied for the “community” tickets. Steph applied in secret as well.

Hers was the application chosen and she was ecstatic! But her stepmother and step siblings quickly claimed it as their own, taking the tickets included.

Steph was left sobbing on her doorstep, alone and afraid for the Waynes and what her family would do to them. But then, out of nowhere, a man in a suit stopped by her door to ask for her, by name! He was to pick her up and take her to the ball personally, ensuring she had everything she needed. Her application had impressed Bruce Wayne that much.

And so Steph was delivered to the ball, fancy dress and fancy hair, eyes wide with wonder.

The ball at the Wayne Castle was beyond anything Steph had ever seen. The glitter and glamour of it all was overwhelming. And somehow, Steph fit in. She was welcomed by each Wayne sibling she met (including the boy that hid, sulkily, in the shadows). A boy with very long hair and very quick wits took her under his wing and showed her around, making her feel welcome.

Everything was brilliant and good and right in the world for a few stunning hours.

And then Steph met Bruce Wayne.

He was standing beside one of her step-sisters and discussing her application. As in, discussing Steph’s application that her step-sister was pretending was her own.

Tim introduced them.

Bruce Wayne, a man whose Goodness and beauty preceded him, did not believe it was her, believed her step-mother and sister instead.

Steph was crushed under the weight of her sorrow and insecurity; she fled the party, convinced the Waynes cared nothing for her.

As she ran she still felt guilty and responsible for not interrupting her family’s plans against the Waynes. Which led her to return to the Ball, but in disguise and hiding in the shadows. 

She interrupted her family’s plans and exposed them for what they were, then disappeared into the night, leaving only a shoe behind (by accident).

Tim, cunning and clever, looked upon the shoe and remembered he’d seen it somewhere earlier. It was Bruce however, shamed and humbled by the near-trickery, that recognized it as belonging to the young lady Tim had shown around the Ball.

They asked the rest of their family to help and it was Cass, swift and silent, who found the determined and daring girl. She extended a hand and Steph, stunned and awed that all her dreams were coming true, accepted her place in their (and now her) family.

**Robin and the Beast**

Once upon a time, there was a large shadowy castle. In that castle lived a young boy. This boy’s name was Damien. Damien grew up as the prince of this castle. He got to order the servants around, got whatever he wanted, and the only person who could make him do anything he did not wish to was his mother.

And Damien’s mother was an evil assassin so getting whatever Damien wanted was easy for her.

Damien trained to be an assassin too as he grew up. He thought it was the best thing in the world.

One day, Damien’s mother was away and had taken most of the servants with her; leaving Damien all but alone in the castle.

The doorbell rang and there was no one around to answer it. So Damien ignored it. He wasn’t going to answer the door himself after all.

The bell rang again. And again he ignored it.

And again it rang.

The bell rang until Damien was finally so annoyed that he stomped down the stairs and answered it. There was an old woman on the other side of the door and when Damien questioned her, she said only that the weather was awful (it was; the rain and wind were getting Damien’s clothes wet even though he was standing inside) and that she was looking for shelter.

Damien scoffed at her request and shut the door in her face. True, there were no other buildings even close to the castle but that didn’t mean she could come inside.

The door stopped before it could slam all the way shut and the old woman showed off her might as a powerful witch. She cursed him to be the beast on the outside that he was on the inside until he learned to be a better person.

Then she trudged off into the night, because powerful witch or not, she still needed a place to stay and the weather was truly awful.

Damien looked down upon himself and saw fur and claws and inhuman shapes. He was Unhappy.

Damien’s mother took one look at him and told him he was of no use to her like this and that she definitely couldn’t teach him to be a Good Person. And then left him at the edge of Gotham City with instructions to find his father. That man, if no one else, could try and undo all the successful evil training she had managed.

Then she abandoned him, telling him to never return (and that he was useless, looking like he did).

Damien was shocked and stunned and betrayed. He began to cry and scream at the universe for being so unfair.

When he finally found his way to Wayne Castle, he found other children already there. His father had adopted others. They accepted him into their family, though tentatively.

But he was not happy; no one did as he wished and he had to follow rules and he rarely got what he wanted. And everything he knew to be right was wrong and evil.

This wasn’t fair. He wanted it all to go back to how it was before.

The fur grew longer and the claws sharper the more tantrums he had.

All was not lost however. Slowly Damien began to acclimatize to Wayne Castle and the way of good things. His father had been a respectable person even from the start, his beauty known far and wide and his reputation (even if it was for Good) known just as vastly. And slowly the other children began to interact.

Cassandra, swift and silent, had also been raised in evil though she left of her own accord. That showed him it could be done. Jason, fairy-blessed, had been corrupted and chosen evil for a while but had eventually returned to the side of Good. The less said of the other girls the better, and at the thought his small tusks grew slightly larger. But the true bright spot was Dick, sunshine and flight; he made Damien want to be better.

As time passed, his fur shortened and his claws became merely oddly sharp nails. He wasn’t close to changed back but he was on his way. (He was on his way to being a better person.)

**The Bat and the Seven Sidekicks**

Once upon a time, in a city covered in the lightest of smog and overshadowed with intricate gothic architecture, there lived a boy. This boy was the shining beacon of the city; heir to the Wayne fortune and heir to the Wayne’s Good Works. He was beautiful, with hair as dark as night, skin as pale as snow, and lips like rubies. More than anything, his soul was beautiful; he was a Good Person. His name was Bruce.

Bruce lived in a castle on the edge of Gotham City (the city with the gothic architecture and light smog) with his parents (the current owners of the Wayne fortune and the do-ers of Good Works) who were also good people. Bruce was a happy child, loved and wanting for nothing.

But light attracts darkness and shining beacons of goodness and beauty attract jealousy.

Within Gotham City lived a witch (well, to be honest, quite a number of witches, good and bad, live in Gotham City. But in this case, only this one witch matters), a jealous witch, who saw the light and Goodness and beauty that was the Wayne family and  _ wanted _ . But this witch couldn’t abide by doing Good Works, he was too petty and selfish for that, so he decided that he would destroy the Goodness and light and beauty instead.

One night when Bruce and his parents were leaving the Opera (having done their Good Works for the day and taking some well-deserved time for themselves), the witch ambushed them and cast a spell of death and despair upon Bruce’s parents. As Bruce watched them slump to the ground, the witch turned his smile upon the young boy. 

His intent, of course, was to kidnap the boy and raise him as his own, twisting that light and Goodness and beauty to his own ends. But before he could grab him, the boy disappeared. The boy ran into the darkness, shadowing his light and hiding his beauty and Goodness. The witch gave chase but did not catch him. The witch cackled and vowed to finish what he had started.

The boy fled out of the city and into the wilds of the world. The world was scary and overwhelming and the boy had adventures and collected companions and fell into a daze of hiding and sneakily doing Good Works. He was a man now, with seven children to care for and a whole city to protect. And protect it they all did. They went out each day and did Good Works, each one working to their strengths, learning and growing and Doing Good. Then at the end of the day, they all returned to their safe home.

But the witch had not forgotten all these years. The witch had grown in his wicked and twisted ways. He coveted Bruce’s pale skin and red lips and brilliantly Good smile; so he painted his own face with a grotesque parody, white and red paint and a smile too large for his face. Over the years,He had tried to steal Bruce’s happiness and Goodness from him but the children had always rejected evil and escaped.

This time, he went after Bruce himself. He disguised himself as an old woman in need and proffered an apple in thanks. The toxin in the apple did its work, stealing the breath and warmth from the beautiful and Good man.

The witch stole his body away; laughing the entire time. He now possessed his life’s desire.

Tim, cunning and clever, did not believe that Bruce was dead and convinced the others to search. Barbara, all-seeing, looked out from her tower and through all her computers and found where the witch had taken their father’s body. Cassandra, swift and silent, snuck through the warehouse and picked the locks for the others. Jason, fairy-blessed, ran in, guns blazing, to both rescue his father and avenge his own pain. In the distraction, Stephanie, determined and daring, stole the Good man’s body from where it lay. Damien, growing into Good, covered their retreat with all the skills taught to him by the woman that seduced their father.

They returned to Wayne Castle with the body of their father. All wept, for he appeared dead.

All but Dick, a boy made of sunshine and flight, who dried his tears and gave the body a hug of pure love. He was joined, one by one, by each of the children until the force of their love drove the toxin from Bruce’s system.

And even more, it drove the haze from his eyes and he woke, truly woke, to the family he had built and the love he had grown and it healed him of his long held pain.


	3. Transcripts

**Table of Contents**

Annapods

litrapod

robinfyre

duckgirlie

sisi_rambles

bessyboo

reena_jenkins

**Annapods**

Transcript by BabelGhoti!

So! This is a fairytales AU of the DCU, mostly the Bat Family. And it is basically… so, there is one room for each member of the BatFamily and, yk… This is their story, I guess.

Let’s start with Bruce and end with him too, because he is, yk, the main figure of the family.

Bruce… Bruce. Bruce was born to this loving couple, this family (and very rich, actually) and he grew up kind of sheltered, not really yk aware of the badness of the world. I’m using “badness” in the sense of, yk, fairytales archetypal badness, so “evilness” and having bad designs on people and their possessions. it’s very black-and-white, to be honest. So he grew up in this very good family and because they’re good, they’re pretty (by the way, this is also fairytale logic). But, yk, he was so good and so shiny with it that an evil witch took notice and that witch wanted to steal his goodness and because it couldn’t, it… was it later on?... it decided to destroy his life forever, basically. And the witch killed his parents, and so Bruce, all of a sudden was confronted with this reality of the world, that, yk, he had a bad witch after him and he took it upon himself to kind of fight that badness in the world. I don’t know, supervillain, superhero origin story, blah blah, whatever. And I choose to think that his most impactful way of fighting that badness was to gather up goodness around him and, yk, the BatFamily. And that started with Dick.

Let’s go in chronological order. Dick, who is the merman under the sea. So he lives in this sea world, he was born there, grew up there and his parents were lovely and the whole sea world loved him, but there was this sea witch who had some kind of disagreement with his parents, the rulers of this place. And the thing about Dick, is that he was kinda fascinated with the outside world and he had seen some acrobats on the beach sometimes (I(m guessing there was yk a circus in town or just yk, gymnasts and they were playing around on the beach and practicing and whatever. And he wanted to learn to fly that way. I’m not sure how he saw trapezists but whatever... And his parents told him “no, that… I mean, you want it, but if you ever get it you won’t actually like it, it’s.... Yk, it’s...You fall, you die, and it’s very, it’s very fraught and very… ugh, the surface is not where you want to go, child.” But he still had these dreams of going there, and one day, as he was yk just going from Point A to Point B, whatever, he ventured on his way to a bad part of the sea. And a current pulled him to the sea witch’s lair, and she gave him… she proposed him a deal, which was basically giving him legs, taking away his voice, and he had one year to get adopted by a family above the sea. So it wasn’t about the love of a mortal, it was … I mean it _was_ , but it was familial love, and… yeah. So he took the deal. And he ended up on the shore with his human legs which probably hurt very badly and yk air in his lungs, the salt and the sand and everything, everything is just really not comfortable, and the problem is that the air world, the sea world?… the earth world? Whatever. The surface didn’t love him the way the sea did. And he had counted on that because in the sea, everybody loved him. And so he though it would be the same above on land. So he was crying his eyes out silently, and regretting his decision when this young man came strolling down the beach and who was it but Bruce! And Bruce was very yk like, “what’s happening? Why are you crying? Can I help?” And Dick couldn’t tell him, so Bruce took a stick and drew a happy face in the sand. I have questions about this worldbuilding… Does that mean that the sea world has smileys and emojis? Do they have cell phones?! I want to know! Questions!! Anyway… So, they somehow manage to communicate, to trade drawings and probably a lot of time, because that Dick situation is kind of complicated to be honest, yk the whole “I’m a merman, I live under the sea and a sea witch cursed me and took away my voice, and I have to get adopted by a human family in one year...” Anyway. So, Bruce of course went “Well, I’m gonna help you find a family” and, like, who will adopt him? Well, who? Because, yk, you come up to somebody and you’re like “OK, I have this random boy who came from the sea, who can’t speak and he… I need you to adopt him.” Um. Wow. And Bruce didn’t think about it at first, because yk he was still young, and also yk it was his first child, but he ended up adopting him, and you know that was the best… Not “ending” yet, but the best way this could have gone, because yk who else would Dick want to be adopted by? And here we have a time skip because his tale is not finished yet. Let’s leave it for after. Then, OK, so Dick got adopted, learned how to fly and was very happy with his new father.

Then, Jason… Jason. So, before he was born, his parents pissed off some fairies and the fairies cursed him and he was going to die at a certain age with an explosion and a smile. And so he grew up kind of yk, kind of devil-may-care attitude, because he knew he was going to die and his parents weren’t particularly nice with him and didn’t really care about that, so when there was this very fancy, very ostentatious car that rolled around in the bad part of town and all the other kids were like “uh, nope, I’m not touching that”, he, well, stole some tires and got himself adopted! Now, fast forward some few years… yes, let’s leave Tim for after that.

Fast forward a few years, when the prophecy came into action. This one evil witch, it’s always the same, who coveted Bruce’s goodness and couldn’t have it so he decided to screw his life over. Decided that yk not happy with having killed Bruce’s parents, he wanted to take away his children, too. And so this evil witch, he lured Jason into a trap and blew him up with an explosion and a smile. That is the end of that for now, because now we are going to Tim.

Tim grew up with these parents who were kind of neglectful. I don’t know how he ended up… OK, so maybe his parents were the witch, or the witch stole him. In any case it doesn’t really matter because that wasn’t a huge change in lifestyle for him to be honest. So he’s in this tower where the witch put him and she’s making… Actually I’m not sure?… I think it was THE evil witch of Bruce’s childhood. Anyway, so she’s making him do all this stuff for her like research and planning and yk his genius computer skills I guess. And he, I mean, it’s easy for him, he does it, and then he has kind of a little bit more fun (if Tim knows the notion of fun, I’m not sure at that point) building stuff, and yk, he could leave anytime, and he did build a system of pulleys for the witch because yk he was nuts, using his hair for that? No way! And yk, she took it away because she didn’t want him a way to do that, but he could just build a drone, but he kind of didn’t really care until she asked him to monitor the Wayne family. And in doing that, he kind of became obsessed with them and stalked them a little until he got noticed by Dick, “Sunshine Boy”! And yk, that’s how he got adopted. And we don’t really care about the witch, because yk he just built his drone and yk, went there. That is actually, I think, the end of Tim’s tale.

So now, Damian. Or should we do Dick first? Let’s do Dick.

Dick! Dick the mermaid. Dick who still hadn’t recovered his voice but who was very happy flying from building to building and doing all sorts of acrobatics, and yk, kicking villain ass. Until the sea witch, I think it went like this. She was very fed up and very angry about humans polluting the sea, and so she… maybe did something, I don’t know, tsunamis or something, I don’t really know, but the end result is that Dick, “Sunshine Boy”, went out to talk to her. Or was it that she kidnapped him? Maybe. Maybe she was angry and so she kidnapped him. But in any case, he ended up talking to her somehow, because yk, he doesn’t have his voice, and I guess sign language? I forgot Cassandra! Oh shit, I forgot Cassandra! ( _cry-laughing?_ ) OK. Whatever. We’ll do it after. So, and they talked, and yk, he was goodness personified, and she was kind of mellowed by that because she’s not actually evil, she just has very radical ways of yk, environmental terrorism, basically. And so he discovered that those were her motives and they came kind of to an understanding in which he went back to the land and told them that she’s very angry and that she won’t stop terrorizing you unless you put up together a team of witches to clean the ocean. And so they did, we don’t know for which price yet, and maybe that will come back to bite humanity’s ass.. humanity in the ass because yk, witches don’t really work for free most of the time (that would be unpaid labor and that is not cool). And the sea witch who was kind of yk taken by the goodness of Dick gave him his voice back and sent him back to the land.

Now, does Cassandra come before or after Jason’s death? In any case, there’s Barbara first.

OK, Barbara… Barbara grew up with yk, her father the commissioner in the police, and she was kind of… so she was aware of the good people’s work, the vigilantes. And… but she was also kind of sheltered, but she really wanted to help, so she started to yk, help behind the scenes, mostly the BatFamily but also others. But the problem is that yk, her father was like “no, you shouldn’t do that because you will attract bad people’s attention!” and that’s what happened. The evil witch, he devised a plan in which he changed himself into a frog and put himself in Barbara’s path and told her he was a prince, and she had to kiss him to change him back into a prince, and she was like… well, she was more aware of the badness of the world at this point, but you know, it’s just a kiss, what harm can it do, basically? And yk, a prince jumps into your lap, most of the time you’re kind of like “Prince, you chose me??!!” So she kissed its tiny slimy head, and watched in horror as it grew and grew and grew into the evil witch, as she shrank and shrank and shrank into a frog. And then Bruce built her a frog tower, everything to size… Adorable. And she kept helping them from her tower, and I’m not sure if she ever got changed back into a human? I think it wouldn’t work with DCU canon, because yk she’s Oracle in her chair and she doesn’t regain use of her legs, but I kind of want to see Steph kissing her tiny, slimy, way more adorable head, regardless of whether it does something or not.

So, we have Damian, Stephanie and Cassandra left. Let’s do… hmm...Stephanie first.

So, Stephanie. Steph. She was born in this family where yk, her mother was good, her father was kind of absent, and then her mother died and her father remarried with one of his coworkers. And the stepmother and the two new stepsisters were very mean to Stephanie, and that is also when she learned that yk, her father’s work was… not very legal. So yeah, she was miserable, and this family, they treated her like shit. And then came the Wayne ball, or gala, or something. Some upper society thing. And this gala, let’s call it, had a process like maybe a lottery draw or something, but they also invited some yk, some normal people, and… Or was that something different? OK, no. What makes more sense is that her parents submitted an application for a Wayne Enterprise/Industry/whatever internship in her name in order to get an in with the Waynes and maybe to get to that gala, I’m not sure. But whatever, they went to the gala and they told her to stay there, but she was aware of their yk “mean plan”. They’re not described in terms of “evil”, I think, but just, yk, illegal, crime, mean, whatever. An ill-advised plan upon Bruce and his family and his fortune, and so she was like “no, I have to stop them,” so she went to the ball and there she met Tim and had a grand time and he showed her around and introduced her to people until yk she spotted her stepmother and stepsisters talking to Bruce about that application. And she was “oh no, what are they telling him?” and also “oh no, the plan!” The problem is, Bruce believed them over her, so she left kind of very sad but yk she gathered herself and was like “no, I have to stop them” so she put on a disguise and went back and thwarted the evil plan and exposed her parents for the crime lords that they were and blah blah. Without telling anyone that she was Steph! And she left, and as she left she forgot her shoe, and then some time later, a knock at the door, and here is Tim with her shoe, looking for her. And that is how she got adopted.

Now… Cassandra. Cassandra grew up in this family, very evil family, and yk, they took away her voice, didn’t let her speak, I think, and they also made her, yk trained her, made her do their dirty work and everything, and she was very good at it, but also she was very good inside and hid it from them. And one day, they sent her to steal a lamp, a magic lamp, so she went and there were rich things like gold and diamonds and everything all around but she ignored that because she didn’t care about that and got to the lamp. And they had told her not to yk use it, but she was in her rebellious phase, she was fed up with their evil ways and she used it and a genie came out. And they communicated in sign language, maybe? Probably. And she asked for a voice, a place in yk a loving family… I don’t remember if she mentioned the Waynes specifically, but in any way, she got it. Or maybe it was the genie that went “why not this one?” and she went “yes, please!” but whatever. And her last wish was to free the genie, of course. And that’s how she got adopted!

Now, let’s get back to Jason. We’ve got Jason, Damian, and Bruce left.

Jason. So he died, basically. And then he was resurrected by this coven of witches, he was... yeah, resurrected, but they were evil witches and wanted him to work for them and twisted his goodness and then he was let loose, but he managed to… I don’t remember if they let him go or if he managed to get away, I’m kind of fuzzy on those details to be honest? But in any case, he… maybe the evil witch did something? Whatever, let’s just handwave all of that. But he was then saved by Dick, “Sunshine Boy” and his hugs. The power of Dick’s love and hugs is kind of a running theme in those. So yeah, and then all was not so good, because yk, trauma. But better! And then, Damian.

So, Damian got cursed, and… where did we leave off? So, he got cursed and every time he was bad, he grew fangs or claws a little more, or hair, and turned a little more into a beast. And his mother Talia was like “you are completely useless to me that way, go to your father, maybe he can undo all the good work I’ve done with you and make you good, but there is no way, you’re of no use to me, get out!” And of course, he was very hurt to hear that and went to Bruce and there he did not have a good time because everything he had been taught was good was now wrong, and everything he has been told was wrong was good, and he wasn’t having a good time. But little by little, the power of love and hugs and sunshine… and he got better! Now, what we have left is Bruce.

After all that, after all these attempts at ruining his life and making him miserable and ruining his goodness, the evil witch finally just yk, killed Batman. Bruce, sorry, killed Bruce. And his children were completely devastated and very angry and devised a plan to get him back and they used all of their skills and yk, family spirit and teamwork and managed to sneak in and get back the corpse of their dead father, basically. And by the way, he is Snow White, not Sleeping Beauty. Jason is Sleeping Beauty. Just so that’s clear. And so they laid him on his bed and were weeping all over him, and then, Dick hugged him. Dick. Hugged! Him. With all his love. And the rest followed suit, and he woke up! And then I’m guessing they went and kicked Joker’s ass, because yk, after a while, it gets old. But yeah! And they lived happily ever after.

The end!

**litrapod**

  
**Snow white**  
  
Once upon a time there was a city by the sea. This was no great and shining city for though it was great, and did shine, it also had many shadows. This city did not have a king or queen to help the people and banished the shadows, but it did have those who were good and kind.

One of those, and possibly the greatest, was a boy. Though he was no more than 12, he was already known to have hair as black as night, skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and a heart that was both good and true. He was sometimes called the Prince of Gotham though in truth his name was Bruce Wayne. His parents were Thomas and Martha and both were good and true people who taught him to be kind and clever. They taught him to help those in need and ask the right questions of those who were not.  
  
But this would not be a true tail if all remained joyful.  
  
One night when Thomas and Martha were returning home with their son they happened upon a witch. Now Gotham city had many witches of many types, but this one would not be swayed or bargained with. He sought to take the goodness from the Waynes and wrap it around him like a cloak for he had none of his own. But one cannot steal goodness so the spell went awry and took their lives instead.  
  
Only Bruce managed to escape, running away and away and away until he was lost enough that no one could find him, not even a witch. For seven long years he traveled the world, until by chance he found himself back in Gotham city. He had no plans to stay, but soon he met a boy and then another. and a girl. Before long he found himself surrounded by seven little children.   
  
Bruce taught his sons and daughters to be good and kind people, to spread this goodness with good works across the city, and for a time things were well.  
  
But the witch remained and so this story is not yet done.  
  
Jealous of Bruce and all his children the witch attacked again and again. He painted his face a ghostly white, and stained his lips red with blood in a mockery of a smile. The laughing witch became feared throughout the land.   
  
One day after many defeats the laughing witch came up with a plan more terrible than any before. They disguised themselves as an old woman in need with nothing but a simple Apple to offer as thanks. Bruce readily offered his help, and when he took the apple the poison acted quickly. Bruce fell into a deathlike sleep, and so the laughing witch was able to carry him away, finally victorious.

And yet the story does not end here either for what would a story be without a happily ever after.  
  
Unlike when he was a child this time Bruce was not alone and his children set out to find him. His eldest daughter, Barbara, set out all her eyes and ears and learned of his location in a warehouse by the docks. His second daughter, Cassandra, snuck inside picking all the locks and leaving the way clear behind her. His eldest son, Dick, swung through the rafters clearing away the witch's henchmen up above. His second son, Jason, used all his fairy blessings to blast through the henchmen down below. His third son, Tim, turned all the witch's a systems against each other. His third daughter, Stephanie, took up his form to carry it home. His youngest, Damien, covered their retreat.

Together the seven brought Bruce's body back to his home and laid it out as if for a funeral. They did not know of the witch's spell and so thought him dead in truth. Together they wept over his body, until Dick the eldest and the brightest, with hope enough to fill the seas, wrapped his arms around Bruce's body and did not let go. The others joined him one and all, adding their belief and love to his.   
  
The laughing witch's spell, made of the darkest shadows, could not stand against such a light, and so the spell was broken. Bruce woke to his family around him. Their love healed the old wound in his heart and he took them into his arms with tears in his eyes.  
  
And this is at last the end of the story.

**The little mermaid**  
  
Once upon a time there was a mermaid. This mermaid was a young boy, for mermaid is a word used to describe their kind not their gender. This boy was full of hope and curiosity. He would often go up to the surface to watch the people. He watched the fisherman and the farmers but what he liked watching most was the acrobats. He watched these people fly through the air like birds without wings, and soon he dreamed of flying to.  
  
His parents indulged him in his dreams. They thought it a childish notion that he would soon grow out of. And so things continued until there came a night with a terrible storm. Ships were crashed against the rocks and below the waves the current tore apart the reefs where Dick lived. Dick's parents were killed and he was swept away into eel infested waters.   
  
Dick was rescued not by someone good or kind, but by a witch. This which offered him a bargain: all his dreams, his heart's desire, but at a price. The witch wanted his voice. Dick did not think this is such a price for he was no singer to bewitch the hearts of men. But with the price there came a test. If Dick could not find a new family before three days had passed he would be forced to return to the waves, and the witch to serve her until the tides came no more.

Dick's parents had been good people, and in his youth he thought all people were good. He thought it would be a simple thing to find another family. He agreed to the witch's terms.  
  
In the next moment he felt the witch's magic wrap around him. The water that had been his life now choked him. With one last mouthful of salty water he was carried upwards on the current and tossed upon the shore.   
  
After three days on the beach Dick was cold and hungry and tired. There were plenty of people around but no one paid him any attention. Without his voice he could not call out to them, could not ask them for help, could not explain what he needed. As the sun began to sink he cast himself down and wept. It was then that a young man found him.  
  
This young man was Bruce Wayne.   
  
Bruce asked Dick why he was crying, but without a voice Dick could not answer. Truly the land was harsh to the seas favored son. Still, Bruce would not be dissuaded and so he took up a stick and carved his words into the sand. Dick was more than clever enough to see his purpose and grabbed up a stick of his own. It took some time and some misunderstandings but through pictures and gestures, Dick was able to tell his story.  
  
Bruce was eager to help, but time was growing short. He knew many people in Gotham, but none who would be willing to take in a lost boy at such short notice. Dick took Bruce's hand and shook his head, holding on for all he was worth. There are no rules to the shape or size of family, and Dick only wanted Bruce.  
  
Surprised, but heartened, Bruce agreed.  
  
And so for a time Dick was happy. Bruce knew something of flying like the acrobats and he taught Dick what he knew. Together they set about watching over Gotham city flying above it's towers and walking its streets, and spreading their good works all the while.

This story does not end there, for while Dick had met the terms of the spell, the witch still owned his voice. Magic can be a funny and fickle thing, and a voice is a powerful magic indeed.   
  
After a time Dick found himself drawn once more to the water. If he was lost in his own mind he would turn towards the sea, and if he was allowed to sleepwalk he would often find himself waking at the end of a pier. One day he woke and the pull was too strong. He came back to himself in the knee-high water of the bay and could not turn away. Instead he stripped off his shirt and dove into the waves his legs once more becoming a tail as his gills reformed to let him breathe the water. A powerful current swept him away and he swam for what seemed an age and no time at all. Until finally he came upon the witch.  
  
The witch had changed from the last time he'd seen her. Where before she had been wrapped in seaweed now there was plastic hanging from her limbs. Her scales no longer shown bright green but were stained dark with oil. She took Dick and bound him tight with seaweed and plastic both, dragging him up to the surface where she cast her spell.  
  
Dick was now tied to the land as much as the sea and so the witch used him to call on the witches of the land. The sea witch demanded their attention, ordering them to purge the poisons they had been dumping into the waves.   
  
Some say that the land witches agreed and spent many days casting many spells.  
  
Some say they debated and bargained for many hours, twisting clever words until they were not quite lies.  
  
Some say the witches came together and attacked, purging the sea of the poisons, but leaving a debt unpaid.  
  
Dick could not say what happened. He was too busy trapped between sea and sky, belonging to neither.  
  
Bruce came to save him.  
  
When all was said and done, and the sea witch was satisfied, she offered Dick a choice. His voice returned if he came back to the sea. For Dick this was not a choice. Voice or no, his home and family was on land. Bruce once more took his hand leading Dick back out of the waves as his fins faded away for the last time. So it was that they returned home and lived there happily, at least for a time.

**The frog Princess**  
  
Barbara grew up in a loving home. Her father was a police officer, and more importantly a good man. She saw the good deeds he did, and the good deeds others did, and admired them. Above all she admired Bruce Wayne, for he was good and kind and true. And his son Dick, who was bright with hope.   
  
As she grew older she set about doing good works of her own for she did not know yet the dangers of the world. Her good works earned her enemies, still she persisted. As she worked with Bruce Wayne she earned one enemy more dangerous than any other. The laughing witch had his eyes on her, set to punish her for her mentors past actions.  
  
For three days the witch cackled over his pot until his spell was ready. Barbara did not know that she was in danger. She went out into the city to do her good works as she did every day, and on this day she came upon a frog.  
  
Now the city is no place for a little frog, and he was having quite a time of it. She saved him from a nasty cat and was quite surprised when he spoke up to thank her. The frog said he was a prince trapped by a terrible spell. Only a kiss from one pure of heart could save him.  
  
Now Barbara did not know if she was pure of heart, but being a modern girl and with courage enough to spare she thought nothing of kissing a frog. She bent and pressed her lips to his small green head, only for the world to shift around her. As she watched the frog grew larger and larger standing up on his hind legs. For a moment she thought that it had worked, but no. She was growing smaller as the spell took hold. Her body wrapped about with magic, changing her until her human form was lost leaving nothing but a frog.   
  
The witch laughed, thinking himself quite clever and abandoned her there thinking that she would surely perish.  
  
For her part Barbara was quite distraught. She did not know what to do or how to reverse the spell, but all the courage of her heart would not let her despair. If she could not find a solution then surely Bruce could. 

It was an adventure in itself, making her way back to him. And yet when she told him what had happened he did not have a solution. Still, he promised to do what he could and called on all the good witches he knew for aid.

Over time, when no solution was found Barbara grew to accept her new form. She could not do her good works, but she was far from helpless. She spoke to Bruce, and he had a tower built. There she gathered her birds of prey and sent them out to watch over the city. She drew to a herself 1001 eyes, making information her business, and passing on what she learned to Bruce.  
  
Did she ever change back you ask.  
  
No, for magic is not as simple as that, and sometimes what you lose is more than what you may gain. Instead she made the spell her own defying the laughing witch until the end of her days.

**The sleeping beauty**  
  
Once upon a time there was a boy named Jason. When he was born a fairy whom his parents had annoyed predicted a terrible fate for him. He was to die in fire and laughter at the age of 13. Now his parents who were not the best of people, Ignored the warning. The boy, for his part, grew up to be a spectacular thief.  
  
Above all else he was daring, and so one day when a spectacular prize was left at his fingertips he took it when anyone else would've hesitated. The prize was a big black car with silver and chrome shining from the hood and tires. Though Jason didn't know it the car belonged to Bruce Wayne.  
  
Before he could properly make away with his prize, Jason was caught. All he knew was that the man had hair as black as night, skin as white as snow, and eyes that sent shivers down his spine. Bruce looked down at him with steel in those eyes, but Jason was as daring as ever and did not look away. Bruce saw something there that he did not expect and so he offered Jason a choice: to join him and do good works for the city, or be turned over to the police for whatever punishment they deemed fit. The latter was the safer option, a well worn road that Jason had walked before.  
  
He chose the other path.  
  
For a time Jason's life was as bright as it had ever been. He had a good kind father, an older brother full of light and hope, a sister full of courage, but it was not to last.  
  
The fairy's words came true in the form of a laughing witch who captured Jason in order to strike out at Bruce. He wrapped Jason in the spells that would explode if anyone drew near, laughing all the while. Though he tried desperately, Bruce was not fast enough to save him.  
  
But our story does not end here, for good knows its own and those who do good will be rewarded. During his time helping Bruce, Jason had once aided a good fairy and earned their blessing. Instead of death his body was protected and cast into a deep dreamless sleep. 

The witch saw that his curse had been turned aside, and no matter how he raged he could not tare asunder the fairies blessing. But Jason was not his true target. When he failed to kill Jason the laughing witch turned his anger on Bruce, using whispered words to convince him and all his family that Jason was dead in truth.   
  
There would be no true love's kiss to break the spell.  
  
For a year and a day Jason slept until he was found by a dark coven. They sought to use his talents to their own ends, for a daring man can accomplish much for good or ill. They wove their spells around him until the fairy's blessing was worn away. Jason woke with no memory, no heart, and no reason to go against his new Masters.   
  
The coven sent him back to Gotham. There he faced his family though he did not know it. Each of them old and new, wept for what had happened to him. They tried to apologize but he did not hear their words, and for a time they thought him lost.  
  
It was a new younger brother who discovered the secret of the spell. He learned that Jason's heart had been hidden away, and that should it be returned, he would be himself again. Barbara sent out all her eyes and found where the secret was hidden. Together Dick and Bruce fought through all the dangers, and used their love to return Jason's heart.  
  
Love knows love, and so when Jason's heart was returned he wept for he was himself again. He returned to Bruce's side and set about doing all their good works once more. 

**Rapunzel**

Once upon a time there was a clever boy trapped in a tall tower. No one knew why the tower had been built, or why it had no door, but only a window at the very top. Not many people knew that a boy lived in the tower, and no one had ever tried to rescue him. The boy's name was Tim, and in truth he was quite content. The tower held everything he needed, from food to clothing, to puzzles that his clever mind could solve. If there was ever something that he needed, he had a drone that he could send out to fetch it.  
  
Tim only ever had one visitor, a witch who often brought him puzzles to solve but was otherwise quite absent-minded and dull. The witch had even thought that reinforcing Tim's hair was a good idea until Tim had built a lift onto the side of the tower.  
  
So things continued until one day when Tim was looking out of his window and saw a man with hair as black as night and skin as white as snow doing good works throughout the city. Tim watched the man from a distance, and learned that his name was Bruce Wayne. He did research on Bruce and learned that he was good and kind and true. Tim learned of his son, Dick, full and bright with hope. His second son Jason, who had been quite daring but was now gone. His daughter Barbara, full of courage.  
  
The more Tim learned the more he wanted to see. Each day he leaned a little farther out of his window. For the first time in his life he was not content in his tower.   
  
Once his mind was made up it was a simple matter for Tim to modify his drone. It was already strong enough to carry him, and so he flew through the air and down to Wayne Castle. When he stepped down onto the ground he wobbled. For the first time that he could remember the ground was not flat. Dick caught him before he could fall and signed something about legs. Tim was still learning sign language and did not catch all of it.   
  
When Tim told Bruce his tale, Bruce welcomed him as did all his family, and together they did many good works.   
  
Now while now spent most of his time at Wayne Manor, he often returned to his tower. It was a quiet place where he could concentrate away from his brothers. Because of this and because the witch was quite absent-minded, it took him a while to notice that Tim had escaped. Tim tried to point out that he hadn't truly escaped. He always could have left, he just hadn't wanted to until now. The witch would not accept that as an answer, and the more Tim tried to reason the angrier they got.   
  
The witch raged, destroying everything at hand, until there was nothing left in the tower but splinters of wood and metal. This time Tim was truly trapped with no way to return home or even contact Bruce.  
  
Now, if it had been before Tim would not have minded the solitude, only the lack of Internet. Now though, he had seen the world and knew the joys it held. He was determined to find a way out and set his clever mind to thinking.   
  
Before Tim could come up with a solution, indeed even before dinner, Bruce was at the base of his tower. Bruce said that Alfred was quite cross. That it was rude for Tim not to respond to their messages even if he was distracted with his puzzles. If Tim was not to join them for dinner he should say so. Tim quickly told Bruce what had happened, and together they got him out of the tower. After that it was a simple matter to find the witch and deliver them to the proper authorities.   
  
By building friendships Tim had built his own escape route.  
  
Tim and Bruce returned to Wayne Castle, and after some discussion Bruce had a tower built for him beside Barbara's. A perfect place to solve all the puzzles involved in their good works.

**The Genie in the Lamp**

Once upon a time there was a girl raised in darkness. Her family shared no love or light or even speech with her. Instead they trained her in the art of violence and stealth. She became a master of her craft, but secretly she always wished and hoped for more.   
  
One day the silent girl, Cassandra, was given a mission not to hurt someone, but to fetch something. She was led to a cave and was told that there was a very special lamp inside. Inside the cave she saw mountains of treasure, jewels that shone like the sun and tapestries woven of the finest thread. But Cassandra was not tempted for she knew that no treasure would help her escape her family.   
  
Cass found the oil lamp up on a pillar at the very back of the cave. As she approached she was prepared for any number of terrible things to happen, but as she picked it up there was no rumble of stone or shift in the air. Carefully tucking the oil lamp away she quietly snuck out of the cave.  
  
Now, Cass had heard of the Genie and its power. And so she dared to disobey her family as she had only done once before. That time had been to spare the life of an innocent who had seen too much. This time she hoped to save herself. She stole the lamp away vanishing into the night until she was sure they would not find her, at least for a time.   
  
When she rubbed the lamp a giant blue woman appeared and began to speak. The Genie listed out the rules, none of which were unreasonable, and at last fell silent awaiting Cassandra's first wish. Cassandra did not know how to make words and so she lightly touched the Genie's arm and gestured.   
  
Both the Genie and Cassandra fumbled through their communications until at last the Genie had an idea. She asked if Cass would like language to be her first wish. As nodded eagerly for though she did not see language as such a great thing, she knew it would help with her true wish. And so the Genie gave her the gift of language. Cass's words were stilted but understandable as she told the Genie of her situation.  
  
Cassandra's second wish was that the Genie free her from her family. The Genie agreed. She called forth a magic mirror and showed Cassandra all the places she could go, all the people she could meet. For a long time Cass was unsure. There were so many people, so many places, and she had never had a choice like this before. Then she saw a man with hair as black as night and skin as white as snow. She saw the good works he was doing with his family and she made her choice.  
  
The Genie sent Cassandra to the frogs tower. When she appeared the frog was startled into a series of croaking curses the like of which Cassandra had never heard before. Once again Cassandra told her story. She told Barbara of her family and their ill designs against Bruce. She said that she wanted to stop them, that she wanted to help do good works. 

Barbara believed her, and together they stoped her family. Then Bruce welcomed her into a new family.  
  
And as for the Genie, well... Cassandra now had everything she had ever wanted, and so she used her third wish to free the Genie and earn an eternal friend.  
  


**Cinderella**

once upon a time there was a girl. Like many other girls she was not born to wealth or privilege. She had a loving mother, and a distant father. This girls name was Stephanie. As she grew Stephanie learned of right and wrong and of justice. And so, she was happy until the accident. After her mother died her father, who had no talent for raising children, remarried quickly.

It was then that Stephanie learned that her father, and stepmother were not good people. They were not witches for not all bad people are witches, and not all witches are bad, contrary to what some stories say.  
  
The woman had two daughters who were mean-spirited and spiteful by turns. And so it was that Stephanie grew with a strong sense of justice, and right and wrong, in a home filled with the latter.  
  
This continued until one day Bruce Wayne decided to hold a ball. It was to be the event of the season and there was not a person in the city who did not wish to go. Stephanie imagined the light and the music the laughter and the games, and was as eager as anyone else. Naturally, her new mother and step siblings were just as eager. 

Her stepmother had wicked designs to trap Bruce Wayne or at least one of his sons into marriage, and take his fortune for their own. When Stephanie heard this she was furious at the injustice of it. She promised herself she would not let it happen, and quietly hatched a plan. 

Now, none of her family were wealthy enough to buy tickets out right. Their only chance was to submit an application for one of the few community tickets. Each plead their case, submitting their own application. Secretly, Stephanie did the same. When the day came, it was Stephanie's application that won.  
  
Though she tried to keep it secret, her new sisters soon found out, stealing the tickets away, and mocking her for her attempt. On the night of the ball Stephanie was left abandoned at their home, while all her family road in glory up to Wayne Castle.  
  
Stephanie wanted to rage at the injustice, but what could she do? She had no fine dress, no fancy car, and no invitation. And so it was that she was quite surprised when a long black car stopped in front of her door and an elderly gentleman stepped out. He said he worked for Mr. Wayne, and had been sent to make sure she got to the ball. Stephanie thanked him eagerly, and gladly accepted the gifts he offered, once more determined to stop her family.

The ball was everything she could have imagined and more. There were lights and music and such joy it seems to go for days. She met the brothers, each speaking to her kindly, until the last a boy her own age with longer hair offered to introduce her to his father.  
  
Bruce Wayne was speaking with her stepmother, and was quite confused when the introductions were made. Her sisters had claimed Stephanie's application as their own, and with her presence Stephanie has called their lie into question.  
  
Bruce Wayne, being a good and honest man, did not believe Stephanie when she said they were lying. So it was that she ran from Wayne Castle out into the night leaving only a single shoe behind. Bruce was quite confused at such a reaction and turned to Stephanie's family asking pointed questions. When they could not answer, or speak about the application, Bruce Wayne had them cast out of the ball and so their plans were thwarted.  
  
Now, that might have been the end of it, but for her help in uncovering the plot Bruce now owed Stephanie a debt. Justice must be done. All his family offered help, and it was Tim who found the shoe. With the shoe as a starting point Barbara learned of Stephanie's family. Cassandra, who knew about bad families, tracked her down and offered her something better.  
  
Stephanie was overjoyed to be welcomed by the Wayne. She gladly joined their family, helping with their good works.

**The Beast**  
  
Once upon a time there was a little prince. His mother was a powerful sorceress and feared throughout the land. As he grew the prince had many servants and was given everything he wanted. He simply had to give an order, and he would be obeyed. So it was that he grew quite spoiled, and never learned right from wrong.   
  
Then one night there was a terrible storm and the Prince, whose name was Damien found himself alone in his castle. His mother was away, and had taken all the servants with her. So it was that when there came a great knocking at the door there was no one to answer it. Damien let the knocking be for he was a prince not a doorman, but it persisted until, fed up with the noise he went to see what was about.  
  
Out in the storm there was an old crone wrapped about with rags. She begged for shelter for the night, for the storm outside was raging. Damien scoffed and told her no. His castle would not be sullied by her presence.  
  
As he went to shut the door she caught the edge and pushed it open once more. Now instead of an old crone a beautiful woman stood before him. She swept a hand across Damien's form pronouncing, may you be as beastly on the outside as you are on the inside, before turning away and vanishing into the night.  
  
When Damien looked down at himself he found that his hair had grown long all over his body. His hands had grown into claws, while fangs and horns erupted from his head. At this change he did not know what to do so he raged and wept until his mother returned.  
  
When his mother looked down upon her child she said, you are no good to me like this. She said the only way to break the curse, was for Damien to change his nature. She could not teach him to be good and so she took him away and left him on the edge of Gotham city. If anyone can teach you, it will be your father, she told him. If you would return to your old form, seek out Bruce Wayne.  
  
Damien cursed and howled and raged, and no one came to help him. At last he did set out to find his father, and it was indeed a simple thing. Yet when he found the man, he was not alone. Bruce had adopted six other children, and though none was his blood Bruce treated them all the same.   
  
Now there were rules to follow, and Damien did not always get his way. He could not simply dismiss the other children as he was used to, and so he often grew quite cross. When his anger rose so did his fur and his claws grew sharp and long.  
  
Yet even then they were kind to him. All around him were examples of cruelty becoming goodness. His new sister Cassandra had grown up darker than he and yet she now spoke and laughed with the rest. So too, Jason had been a thief but now stood with the rest doing their good works. And so it was that over time he learned, and as he learned his fangs and claws shrank, and his fir faded away.   
  
There was no great act to break the curse, but 100 small kindnesses to show him the way. 

**robinfyre**

**duckgirlie**

This is a story about Bruce Wayne, who lost the most important things in life and made it is mission to make sure others kept them.

This is a story about Dick Grayson, who lost the most important things in life and traded a part of himself to find a new home.

And this is a story about the witch of the sea, and the witch of the city, and what they took from them.

Bruce was always beautiful, with skin as pale as the moon and hair as black as the night, but he wasn’t always as good. His parents tried their best, but parents love to spoil their children in any way they can, and little boys do so love being spoiled. So he grew up not as good as they’d hoped but not as bad as they feared, and what did it matter anyway, there were years and years to go before he had to be his own man, there would be time enough to teach him other, better ways.

There would be time enough, until there wasn’t.

Years later, the witch of the city would lay claim to that night, but who could really know for sure, as no one was there to see it. No one but a small, scared boy whose face was turned not to the darkness, but towards his parents and the love that flowed from them.

Everyone expected Bruce to go bad. A beautiful boy with that much money and that much pain, he’d have to beat every odd in the book not to.

But he did. After Alfred took him home that night, and tucked him in to bed and answered the questions no child should ever have to ask, Bruce looked inside himself and asked himself what kind of man his parents would want him to be, and told himself he owed it to them to become that man, and he did. So much money and so much pain, but also so much love to give.

But the witch of the city waited.

Dick was born a mermaid, and he and his family danced beneath the ocean like no others. But Dick was never satisfied with the water, and dreamed of soaring over the land the way he slid through the water. His family laughed every time he told them, because who could want the shore when the sea was so beautiful, but he never stopped.

Years later, Dick would always wonder if the witch of the sea caused the storm. It didn’t matter really, in the end, where the storm had come from, all that mattered was that it came, swift and cold and brutal, and when it was over, Dick was the only mermaid left for miles.

There was nothing left to keep him in the sea, so he laid his family to rest as best he could, and went to see the witch of the sea, who took his hand and stroked his hair and promised to give him what he wanted, in exchange for barely anything at all.

Just his voice.

And maybe if Dick’s family had still been alive he would have left the witch’s lair at that request, and kept his voice and his tail and his life beneath the sea, but after the storm Dick didn’t have anything left to lose, and what was his voice to him if he could feel the air on his face and the sand beneath his feet? So he took the deal and gave his voice, and barely even thought about the final stipulation, that he find a new family before three days was up. Dick had never had trouble charming people when he’s wanted to, why should this be any different?

The pain was like nothing he’d ever felt before, it felt like being torn limb from limb, but when it was mostly done, receded to a dull throb that would never fully go away, Dick found himself on the beach, with the sun on his back and the waves washing over his feet.

But a life with his family and the rest of the mermaids hadn’t prepared Dick for land, and without a voice, or clothes, or money, he could not find a way off the beach. A full day passed, wasted, before one of the most beautiful men Dick had ever seen arrived on the beach and stared out into the sea, alone with his thoughts. It took him a moment to even realise Dick was there, hidden in the shadow. The man smiled and mentioned the beauty of the sunrise, and Dick was so disarmed by his friendliness he tried to answer before he remembered his voice was gone.

The man could sense some distress in Dick, and casually tossed him his phone so Dick could type out an answer, but Dick was so hungry his hands shook, and he fumbled the phone. He pulled himself to his feet to apologise for dropping it, but stumbled immediately.

The man caught him before he hit the ground, and carried him back to the castle as if he’d weighed nothing at all. Dick dozed off in his arms and woke later on a couch with the sun streaming in the window and a cup of soup gone lukewarm on the end table.

The man from the beach was sitting on an armchair a little ways away, his sleeves rolled up and his hair mussed, his face buried in a foriegn newspaper. When he heard Dick shifting on the couch, he looked up and smiled and introduced himself as Bruce Wayne, owner of the castle and coincidentally, the strip of beach that Dick had washed up on. He presented Dick with a small clean notebook and a pen so Dick could ask him anything he wanted, and asked Dick about himself, only wanting as much information as he wished to give.

Dick told him as much as he dared, about losing his family and winding up on the beach alone, but was too afraid to tell him about the witch and his life under the sea. But still they talked as best they could the rest of the day, until the sun disappeared and Bruce showed him to a bedroom at the end of the hallway.

The next day, Bruce presented him with more clothes and food for breakfast, and carefully tried to find out any information he could without upsetting Dick, but he was unsuccessful. Dick was still too scared of the witch of the sea, and whatever secret clauses she might invoke to ruin Dick’s chances. But he told Bruce as much as he could about his family and their life as acrobats, and promised to show Bruce some tricks when he was well again.

That night Bruce held a small party, and though he assured Dick that he was welcome and found him a suit to wear, Dick was uncharacteristically shy, keeping himself to the edges of the room and barely interacting with anyone. Bruce was surrounded by smiling, beautiful people, all of whom sparkled under the crystal chandelier and laughed musically at everything Bruce said. Dick suddenly realised he had no place in this castle, that his family had been right to tell him never to leave the water, and that the witch had surely known his plan was doomed and she would get to keep his voice forever.

Dick fled the castle without even realising Bruce noticed him leave, and found himself on the beach again, as the water swirled and the witch rose from the depths, ten times bigger than she’d been before, and laughed in his face, cackling that he was a fool to think anyone would ever claim him, and reached out a long tentacle to pull him back to her.

Dick was screaming a silent scream as he felt himself dragged back into the water, until suddenly a hand grasped his and pulled him back, and Bruce stood firm at the edge where the land met the sea, and told the witch that he claimed Dick, and if the witch was ever seen near Gotham’s shores again, then Bruce would have no choice but to kill her.

The witch retreated, the sea calmed, and Dick lay on the sand and caught his breath before Bruce helped him to his feet and took him home.

Dick was not the only child that Bruce took in. Bruce’s home was full of other young Gothamites who’d lost or been abandoned by their families, but Dick was the first and the oldest and he found himself revelling in the role of elder brother to Bruce’s whole band of misfit orphans.

They could have been an almost normal happy family, but the witch of the city was still waiting.

The witch’s obsession with Bruce had not dimmed in all the years’ it festered, and he found that hateful obsession began to twist his body as it had twisted his mind. He wanted to possess Bruce, to destroy Bruce, and one day he looked in the mirror to discover his own face twisted in a grotesque parody of Bruce’s beauty: skin bone-white with none of Bruce’s glow, mouth red and twisted with none of his joy. The witch knew that time was running out, that if he did not destroy Bruce soon then he would be destroyed himself, so one dark night he took to the streets, wrapped a scarf around his face, and went to the door of Wayne Castle.

He thought it would be harder to gain entry, he thought Bruce’s band of adopted offspring would be more cautious, but years of love and safety had changed them, and his claims of being an old man who simply needed a place to sit and a phone to call a friend were taken at face value.

The witch took a seat by the fire, and waited. He didn’t have to wait long. When Bruce came to him to offer whatever help he could, the witch got to his feet and let the scarf drop to reveal his face.

The witch expected more terror then Bruce gave him, but in the end it didn’t matter, he threw the powder in Bruce’s face and snatched his body before it even hit the ground. He was gone before anyone in the castle even knew, or so he thought..

In twin towers high above the castle’s rooftops, two of Bruce’s children saw the witch escape, and called to their brothers and sisters, and the Seven Wards took off across the rooftops of Gotham until they overtook the witch and surrounded him.

The witch reared back in fear but none of the children attacked him, caring only for retrieving Bruce’s body and taking him home. In the end, when Dick had taken Bruce in his arms and led his siblings away, did the last of Bruce’s children press a knife to the witch’s neck and promise that next time there would be no mercy, before disappearing back into the night in his crimson hoodie.

Dick bore Bruce back to the castle, and laid him in his bed. The seven children stood around him, holding hands to comfort each other and thank the man who had given them all a new life, and without even realising it, their love overran the magic and Bruce’s eyes opened.

This is a story about Bruce Wayne, who lost the most important things in life and made it is mission to make sure others kept them.

This is a story about Dick Grayson, who lost the most important things in life and traded a part of himself to find a new home.

And this is a story about the witch of the sea, who was finally banished, and the witch of the city, who heeded the warning and fled Gotham, leaving the city and the wards of Wayne Castle safe.

For now.

**sisi_rambles**

**bessyboo**

**reena_jenkins**


End file.
